


that's all they really want!

by tunemyart



Category: Xena: Warrior Princess
Genre: (bc she gets hetero married for 12 hours in the next episode), F/F, Gabrielle doesn't actually tumble into realization at the end of this, and I know we've all considered that, but Xena is enjoying the heck out of how close she is, on a lot of levels, some vampire ladies bit Gabrielle somewhere not visible in her outfit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-31
Updated: 2019-10-31
Packaged: 2021-01-15 03:29:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,396
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21246749
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tunemyart/pseuds/tunemyart
Summary: One bacchae bite later, Gabrielle's teetering the edge of a realization. Xena's waiting patiently.Set after season two's "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun."





	that's all they really want!

**Author's Note:**

> sorry if you're seeing this twice; AO3 was playing tricks. that's what I get for trying to use mobile. 
> 
> as promised, Happy Halloween. <3

“I can’t believe I was stupid enough to think it was you when the bacchae was literally staring me in the face the whole time.”

Xena rolled her eyes. Joxer had been whining along the same two or three lines in the five minutes since they’d been made abruptly aware that Gabrielle had become a bacchae; and with that added complication to the plan to destroy Bacchus, Xena’s patience for it was even thinner than usual.

“I didn’t realize she was a bacchae either, Joxer,” she said as calmly as she could manage, examining the path they were on for evidence of Gabrielle’s - or any bacchae’s - trail. “That’s how they work.”

“But you weren’t the one who was there when it happened!” he moaned. His armor clanked as he gestured melodramatically, and atop Argo, Orpheus hissed, “Shut up, you idiot.” 

But it was too late. Xena was suddenly extremely interested in whatever it was Joxer had to say, and drew herself up to her full height before grabbing the scruff of his shirt to encourage him to spill everything he knew that she hadn’t already heard. Not that it really mattered - Gabrielle intimidated Joxer, and she was a full foot and half shorter than him and didn’t carry any weapon but a staff - but it did make Xena feel better. _Slightly._

“What do you mean, you were there when it happened?” she asked. Joxer quailed at the menacing tone of her voice, but unless she was imagining it, he seemed a little relieved that she was finally listening to him, too. 

“Just that - I’ve been thinking it over, you know, and there’s only one time it could have happened,” he explained. “When Gabrielle was dancing with those bacchae.”

“You let Gabrielle dance with bacchae?” she exploded, letting him go so that he stumbled back and flailed in an attempt to regain his balance. 

“Xena, I don’t think this is the time for this - “

“Shut up, Orpheus,” she said without breaking her gaze from Joxer. “Joxer, how did you know they were bacchae?”

He scoffed. “How _didn’t _I know they were bacchae?” Xena raised an eyebrow, and he muttered, “They had the look about them. You know.”

“The look about them?” Xena repeated. “That’s all you’ve got to base it on?” Rolling her eyes, she grabbed Argo’s reins and started walking again. They were wasting time.

“You know - _the look _,” Joxer insisted, as if it made any more sense the second time, and hurried to catch up. “And more than that, they were really focused on Gabrielle... and Gabrielle was looking_pretty _close with them, if you know what I mean.”

As what Joxer probably didn’t realize he was implying sunk in, Xena stopped in her tracks, and Joxer promptly walked into her back. Xena barely noticed, her “huh” drowned out by his “oof” and “ow!”

It wasn’t as if Xena had never considered the idea that it wasn’t just boys who would be running after Gabrielle. Xena remembered what that party had looked like by the time she’d gotten there, and it was all too easy to imagine Gabrielle wandering into it: innocence and virginity nearly radiating off of her, eminintely trusting and alluringly corruptible. Xena would have been shocked if nobody in that crowd hadn’t been tempted. The gods knew that in her own past, she herself would have been. 

And it wasn’t even as if it had never occurred to her that Gabrielle would limit herself to running after boys, either. Xena had accumulated a whole collection of ways that Gabrielle’s eyes and hands had lingered on her in the last few months; and while she doubted very much that Gabrielle knew what she was doing, Xena had absolutely no intention of forcing a realization. Gabrielle deserved the time to figure something like this out in her own time and ask for it on her own terms.

No - the problem was that she hadn’t ever actually pictured Gabrielle figuring things out in a way that didn’t involve her. In retrospect, that was ridiculous. If there were one thing that had always been immediately apparent about her, it was that Gabrielle was an explorer and an adventurer, someone who loved people and made friends easily, who attracted people to her like bees to flowers. 

“Xena?” Joxer’s voice broke into her thoughts. “You okay?”

It was enough to snap her back to the present: on the road to rescue Gabrielle, defeat Bacchus, save the world. Enough time for all the rest later. 

“Yeah, fine,” she said, and squared her shoulders. “Come on. Figuring out how Gabrielle became a bacchae doesn’t help us help her now.”

  
  


* * *

Much later, after Xena herself had become a bacchae, after she and Gabrielle had defeated Bacchus, after they’d become human again and Gabrielle had brilliantly, effortlessly wrangled their much needed time together away from Joxer for the next few weeks at least, Xena managed to get it out of Gabrielle that Joxer’s suspicions had, for once, been absolutely correct. 

“Yeah. It was them,” she confirmed shortly when Xena asked about the women, her crossed arms and hunched shoulders making it evident that she had no desire to speak about it further. 

A request Xena would honor as long as she knew one thing. “Are you okay?” she asked, keeping her voice as even as possible. 

Gabrielle smiled a little. “I’m fine. Not a bacchae anymore, remember? You kind of took care of that.”

“Alright,” Xena said, letting it go. “Then since you’re not a bacchae anymore, can you take care of cooking these rabbits?”

“Gladly,” Gabrielle said with a laugh as she took the pair of dressed rabbits from her and got to work extracting the meat. “Thanks for hunting. We haven’t had meat in a while.”

“Eh. Our stores are getting low again, and game is pretty plentiful around here.”

“What, already?” Gabrielle asked, face falling with dismay. “We just stocked up before the whole Orpheus thing.”

“Joxer,” Xena said pointedly, and Gabrielle sighed in understanding. “Also, I think you underestimate how much you snack on the road.”

“Hey! I do not.” 

“You don’t snack or you don’t underestimate?” Xena teased.

Gabrielle only threw her a look and went back to preparing the meat.

“Besides,” Xena said, grinning and thoroughly unable to help herself, “between the two of us, we both know you’re the biter.”

Gabrielle flushed brilliantly; and when she didn’t reply and visibly retreated into herself, Xena’s grin waned. She and Gabrielle had come so far together - and Gabrielle had grown so much on her own - that Xena sometimes forgot that Gabrielle was still young enough to be sensitive about sex.

“Gabrielle, I’m sorry,” she apologized. “I didn’t mean anything by it.”

Gabrielle only gave the barest hint of a smile as she finished setting the now-seasoned rabbit meat over the merrily crackling fire. “It’s fine. Will you turn these in fifteen minutes? I’m just gonna go down by that stream. No, don’t worry,” she said when Xena started to get to her feet. “I’ll be back soon.”

Xena honored those fifteen minutes. Seventeen minutes later, she’d followed Gabrielle’s trail and found Gabrielle herself at the end of it. Xena was just glad she hadn’t tried to make things difficult for her. Not that it would have done much but slow her down, but if those rabbits weren’t turned again in thirteen minutes, Xena would have to go hunting again.

“So,” she began as she gracefully eased down next to her, stretching out her long legs in counterpoint to the way Gabrielle had drawn her knees protectively close to her chest. “I hear that you were really enjoying dancing with those women.”

“You gonna yell at me about that?” Gabrielle asked, her smile wry and self-deprecating. “Yeah, I was wondering when that would happen.”

“No,” said Xena, bemused. “Why would I yell at you?”

“Why wouldn’t you?” Gabrielle countered. “It’s the same old thing: little Gabrielle from little Poteidaia, too stupid to recognize bacchae when they’re right in front of her.”

“That particular situation is a ‘same old thing’?” Xena couldn’t help teasing again, but softened immediately when Gabrielle’s expression didn’t lighten at all. “So you wanted to dance with some people. That’s not a crime. It’s not even a bad thing.”

Gabrielle was looking at her suspiciously. “But?”

“But what?”

“But ‘do better’? But ‘take care of yourself’? But ‘pay closer attention to your surroundings’?” Gabrielle suggested. 

“It sounds to me like you’ve been beating yourself up about this enough that I wouldn’t need to say anything, even if I wanted to,” Xena offered, bumping her shoulder.

“I could tell you to try getting turned into a bacchae and see if you don’t beat yourself up about it, but I also guess that was your plan.” 

“Well, yeah,” Xena allowed. “But I was also glad that it was you that did it. I wouldn’t let just anybody bite me, you know.”

It was a testament to how deeply upset Gabrielle was that she didn’t respond to that comment even to blush, only mournfully looking down at her hands. “It was like I completely lost myself,” she said. “All I wanted to do was dance with them forever. You’d think that at least would have tipped me off, right?”

Xena didn’t actually think any such thing, but held her tongue. “You know, there aren’t gonna be bacchae at every festival,” she said, hesitating only a moment before adding, “and not every beautiful woman you come across is gonna be a bacchae, either.”

A beat passed, and then, almost inaudibly, Gabrielle said, “I didn’t say they were beautiful.”

Neither had Joxer; but Xena, who happened to know that Gabrielle had discerning taste when it came to women even if Gabrielle had yet to know it herself, simply smirked. “Well, were they?”

And _there _was the blush. “Yes,” Gabrielle mumbled. 

A rush of affection swept through Xena, and she decided that she’d probably teased Gabrielle enough, regardless of Gabrielle being unable to fully recognize that she was being teased. 

“C’mere,” she said, and slung an arm over her shoulder. Gabrielle came with her willingly. “You’re doing fine, Gabrielle. I know I don’t say it enough, but I’m proud of you. I want you to trust your instincts - for the most part, they’re good instincts. And I want you to be happy, and have fun. You’re young, you _should _be seeing what’s out there.”

“I thought that’s what I was doing with you.”

Again, Xena held her tongue, but permitted herself a smile that Gabrielle couldn’t see. “You might find there are some things you want without me,” she said delicately instead, “and that’s okay.”

“Xena,” Gabrielle said seriously. “I really wish you’d stop talking in riddles and say what you mean.”

Xena laughed and took it as a cue to rise to her feet, pulling Gabrielle with her. Gabrielle looked up at her trustingly, and it nearly undid her. How the world had seen fit to send such an incredible gift to the woman she’d been, she’d never know. 

“I did say what I meant,” was all Xena said, still smiling broadly in a way she couldn’t contain. “Let’s go on back to camp and save our dinner.”

“Sounds good to me.”

They’d made it a few steps before a sudden thought hit Xena. 

“Hey,” she began, because she hadn’t seen any bite marks on the considerable swaths of Gabrielle’s skin that were bare before they’d succeeded in destroying Bacchus. “Where did those bacchae bite you, anyway?” 

“Uh,” Gabrielle said, obviously trying not to meet Xena’s eyes. “Does it really matter? It’s gone now.”

_Oh, Gabrielle _, Xena’s mind sighed through a sudden spike of jealousy and protectiveness. _We’ve really got to work on your subterfuge. _

Briefly she let her mind wander over the possibilities of whatever Gabrielle was protecting: everything from simple embarrassment at the situation and relatively innocent kisses to parts of her neck or shoulders that her hair covered, to more complicated emotions about kisses left in places such as breasts and thighs that Xena doubted that Gabrielle had ever let anyone kiss before. 

“You don’t need me to look at it?” Xena asked aloud, eyes narrowing unconsciously. “Make sure that it healed properly?”

That finally caused Gabrielle to stop and look at her in part understanding and part pity, and belatedly, Xena did her best to assume an air of casual innocence. She was just looking out for her best friend, after all; Gabrielle couldn’t really fault her for that. 

“Why? Do you need me to take a look at yours?” Gabrielle asked with one eyebrow raised, more likely than not because it was obvious that the mark she’d left on Xena had healed as if it had never been there at all. Xena had felt a brief pang of regret about that when she’d realized, almost wanting the memory of a scar she could trace with her fingertips and remember the soft press of Gabrielle’s front against her back, the unexpectedly commanding pressure of her fingers, and the warm, sharp suction of her mouth on her neck. 

As if her thoughts were obvious - and Xena had a sudden fear that not only they were, but that Gabrielle had suddenly fit all the pieces together in an epiphany of self-awareness on top of it - Gabrielle leaned very close and brushed Xena’s hair back away from her neck. Her fingers on Xena’s neck were light and teasing, her breath whispering near the hollow of Xena’s throat as her eyes peered at her neck, and the combination of the two made Xena’s body tense and break out in goosebumps. 

“Huh. Looks fine to me,” Gabrielle said, leaning away, grinning like she knew exactly what she was doing after all. 

She didn’t, at least not completely - Xena could see it still in the mischief in her eyes - but it wouldn’t be long before she did; and give or take a week of surprise or panic or both on Gabrielle’s part, Xena would really be in for it then. 

“Thanks,” she said dryly, and Gabrielle’s nose scrunched with her smile this time. 

“Somebody’s gotta look after you,” she said. 

“Yeah, well,” Xena said, and slung an arm over her shoulder again as they started to walk. “Thanks for taking the job.”

Gabrielle’s arm slid naturally around her waist in return. “Anytime.”


End file.
